Tappan Zee Bridge neighbors: Work noise already a headache

'Levels appear to be within required limits,' Cuomo adviser says

May 16, 2013

Fred Gross stands on the deck of his Tappan Landing Road home in Tarrytown. His porch overlooks a construction barge that is doing preliminary work for the new Tappan Zee bridge. / Joe Larese/The Journal News

Written by

and Khurram Saeed

Work on the new Tappan Zee Bridge has just started and residents say they are already irritated by noise and lights from the site.

Tappan Zee Constructors began pile driving and other activities in the river this week to build a 1,000-foot work platform off the Tarrytown riverbank. The temporary trestle will eventually be used to support a crane.

“It’s pretty loud,” Tappan Landing Road resident Geri Kavanah said of the booms from pile driving she heard just after 7 a.m. Wednesday. “Let’s put it this way: You don’t need an alarm clock.”

Though contract rules prohibit pile driving before 7 a.m., residents said there is a lot of noise as the crews position equipment before then.

Homeowners on Tappan Landing have been pressing Tappan Zee Constructors to install a device to monitor noise, dust and vibration levels. They have argued they are just as negatively affected by the construction as residents in the condominium complex next door, The Quay, which has an environmental monitoring device in place.

Brian Conybeare, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s special adviser on the project, said that two noise complaints were sent to the project website this week and officials immediately responded.

“While the noise levels appear to be within required limits, we have followed up on the complaints by working with Tappan Zee Constructors on potential mitigation measures and ways to more closely monitor noise at the site,” Conybeare said. “We are continuing to work with local communities, including Tappan Landing, to install even more environmental monitors.”

“If I had a cracked window from this vibration or noise, I can’t prove it,” Gross said.

State officials say Tappan Zee Constructors completed pre-construction surveys of properties within a 300-foot zone, but the New York State Thruway Authority is in the process of expanding surveys beyond that radius, likely to 1,000 feet.

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Tarrytown residents are not the only ones who are irked. When Judy Hirschhorn, board director of South Nyack’s Salisbury Point co-op, returned to her home Tuesday night, lights from barges were shining in the direction of the 120-unit cooperative.

Tappan Zee Constructors’ community liaison, Carla Julian, told Hirschhorn to contact her if it happened again.

“I am very disappointed that even at this early stage, they are not taking a proactive stance and will only react to complaints,” Hirschhorn wrote in an email to The Journal News.

State officials said Tappan Zee Constructors had corrected the placement of the lights on the barges, and that test boring work would end in about two weeks. There are no other night operations scheduled.

Tappan Zee Constructors and Salisbury Point officials had planned to meet last week to discuss security fencing, noise-dampening windows and a pool cover, but the meeting was called off. Hirschhorn said it was postponed after board members asked project officials to detail how they will decide which requests will be granted.

Meanwhile, Tappan Zee Constructors is pushing Salisbury Point to to install an environmental monitor.

“They’re on our backs about putting up the sound monitors because that’s an emergency to them,” Hirschhorn said. “I want them to treat our concerns with equal urgency.”